Nadesan denies UN accusation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 17:48 GMT]
LTTE Political Head B. Nadesan on Saturday categorically denied recruitment and arming children as young as 12 to fight alongside the Tigers as alleged by news reports citing the UN Colombo Spokesman Gordon Weiss.

"A large number of teenagers and children were killed in the deliberate shelling, bombing and firing by the Sri Lankan forces in Vanni in the last few months. The North Eastern Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) is working on compiling documentary evidence on the massacre of children and all other war crimes and human rights abuses committed by the Colombo government during the war and this will be brought to light at the right time," Mr. Nadesan said.

The UN Colombo office accusation coincides with the visit of the Emergency Relief Coordinator of the UN and Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, who is on a three-day visit to Colombo to discuss aid to the civilians of Vanni, both in the safety zone and outside.

Chronology: